Tennessee county votes down resolution condemning same-sex marriage

A Tennessee county on Thursday narrowly voted down a resolution that sought to condemn same-sex marriage.

According to the AP, Hamblen county commissioners voted down the resolution with a 5-4 vote. Four commissioners abstained.

A crowd of about 50 people gathered outside the courthouse to protest the resolution.

The resolution called on state lawmakers to reject and appeal the Supreme Court's landmark 2015 ruling in Obergefell that found that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry.

The committee last week voted 7-1 in favor of moving the resolution to a full commission vote.

Commission Chairman Louis "Doe" Jarvis, the lone no vote then, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that Patriot's Brigade of Tennessee, the right-wing group that proposed the resolution, is "playing on Christianity" to further its agenda.

Earlier this year, two Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that sought to define marriage in Tennessee as a heterosexual union. The legislation was ultimately tabled until next year.